The wedding

Finally I have managed to upload the photos of my friends Emma and Mark's wedding in April.  The weather in Elgin that week had been horrendous with, at times, four seasons in one day!  In fact while Holly and I were inside the camper van the night before, decorating, there was a storm of hailstones bouncing off the roof. Not good for a beach wedding!

But the next day, although it was cold, there were beautiful blue skies to be seen so I was hopeful that at least we would escape the snow.

If you are wondering why their wedding car is a camper van....then I am afraid, I am to blame as it was my idea. Mark came and asked for ideas and this is what I came up with. I thought it was cool, we just had to wait and see if Emma agreed, which she did, much to Mark's delight. Throw in my dad who owns said jalopy, in his best finery and it was a very impressive wedding car indeed.

Holly and I spent a hilarious hour decorating it especially as it was in the twilight hour before it got dark and I had forgotten to ask my dad how to put the lights on! I tired starting the car but only the lights above the driver came on, nothing else! I was frightened to touch anything else in case I drained the battery so we just fumbled around in the dark! LOL

The wedding car (with my mum's name in the number plate)

The back view

The chauffeur (my dad) with a small tipple for the happy couple

Mark getting the wedding site ready and showing me the carpet to get Jack onto the beach

When we arrived at Cullen Harbour, Mark was there preparing the site for the ceremony. He asked Holly to write his and Emma's name in the sand next to a beach towel and sunscreen. Very authentic. Then he showed me how he was going to get Jack onto the beach, using an old piece of sand coloured carpet to give the wheels some traction. When I suggested that we just watch the ceremony from the entrance to the beach, he was appalled and told me in no uncertain terms that Jack was to be included and we would get him on the beach, end of story as that's what Emma and Mark wanted. They had thought of everything and I want them to know just how much it meant to us that they went that extra mile.

There followed an absolutely hilarious 10 mins getting Jack onto the sand with the help of quite a few guests but once we were in position the rest of the guests joined us.

Mark walking Emma down to the beach

The ceremony with their names in the sand

The ceremony was beautiful. They had written their own vows and it was lovely to see them getting married at the place where Mark had actually proposed. I was quite tearful. That's saying something let me tell you as usually when I pass a wedding, I have the urge to shout out the window "don't do it!!!!" Tee hee hee

Lily the adorable flower girl and her mum Janice

Jack, chilled out dude

Back view of Emma's dress...stunning!

The chauffeur and the bride

A lovely pic of Janice, Lily, Mark, Emma and Eilidh (Emma's daughter)

Having a laugh at something I said...could it be Fakebake? lol

Jack coping a feel of Emma....I blame the hormones!

Mmmm what have we here? another young man Emma!

Maureen (in the middle) and Jess (on the right)

It may have looked gorgeous but this is how cold it actually was!

The bride and groom with the male guests in their finery

Emma, Janice and Lily....looking beautiful

And ice cream....they thought of everything!

Eilidh and Sophie hiding from the cold in the wedding car

The wedding decorations inside, we didn't make too bad a job in the dark!

Cute balloon

Arriving at the hotel

Confetti time

The kiss 

The wedding reception was lovely. The food was gorgeous and the view out of the window was stunning. I had a great time celebrating the love between two of my most deserving friends. It is obvious to anyone who sees them how much they love each other.

Cupcakes instead of wedding cake....I like 

Mark's love of tractors is included in the wedding

Me

Holly

Lovely little touches

Wedding trivia

Doris, looking glam

The view from the hotel

Cutting the cupcake

As we were leaving the reception, I came across this car. Isn't is lovely? The man driving it was just about to cover it up for the night when we appeared. It is the Help for Heroes car which is going around the coast of Britain, raising funds. I offered him a donation in return for Emma and Mark getting their picture taken. He was happy to oblige. What a cool idea to raise money. He has a blog which is very interesting and features all the adventures in his travels. Emma and Mark feature in it too.

With the Help for Heroes car which is going around the coast of Britain

That is my car in the background. Holly and Jack are hiding behind it so that they aren't in the photo!!!

And lastly, the thank you card which I thought was so lovely.

Another nice touch.

Hello there

It's been such a busy week and I feel worn out!

Jack didn't get his operation after all. He was fine the day after his temp was up and laughed most of the way down to Edinburgh. We arrived exactly at 2pm but it took us about half an hour to find a parking space. After we (Granny Mac and me) got Jack settled the surgeon came to see us.

He explained that there was a shortage of intensive care beds available and that they wouldn't know until 8am the next day if a bed would be there for Jack after his op. If there wasn't one, then no operation.

I was gutted to say the least. What with his tube falling apart and holding it all together just to get to this moment, I just felt so damn exhausted all of a sudden. Then the surgeon caught sight of Jack's cast and I really thought that the operation was definitely not on the agenda just by his reaction. Apparently Jack's legs need to be up on stirrups for this operation with the surgeon operating between his legs. Not easy to do with a full leg cast.

I never for a moment thought of that, especially since I had checked with the orthopaedic consultant at the time he'd broken his leg so you can imagine that my heart just sunk. Thankfully he is a very inventive surgeon and once he saw the range in Jack's hips and realised that the other leg doesn't straighten either, he decided that he could most likely work around it. Phew!

The next morning, the ward called to say that the surgeon was already on the ward looking for us so we high tailed it up there only to be told that two emergency cases had come in overnight and therefore Jack's operation was cancelled. I know it can't be helped but I was so hoping for it to be all over by now and for us to be getting back to some sort of normality before the sunnier days. Don't you just hate it when someone moves the goal posts???

Drumochter Pass -  on the road I drive through to get to  Edinburgh

I text Holly to let her know that we would be heading back later that day and she called me straight away crying as she was off school, feeling pretty awful and sorry for herself. When I'd left her she had been fine. What a difference a day makes! The drive home was uneventful. We got back home about 5pm on the Friday. Getting Jack out of his chair I noticed that his tube had split again and had come out by about a foot.

Trying not to panic, I gently slid it back in and phoned Edinburgh Sick Kids straight away telling them that if it had been displaced, then I would be heading back their direction in the morning. Having improvised and taped it together with sticking plaster, I was on tenter hooks the rest of the night, watching and waiting to see if he was going to vomit his feed but it seemed my worry was unfounded.

Instead Jack's breathing was rattly and he was coughing up yellow stuff so I called the doctor who came out and prescribed antibiotics. I had two kids coughing, sneezing and feeling sorry for themselves and I felt like Florence blinkin' Nightingale by the time the day was through.

By Monday night things had improved but then Jack's tube came apart again and I'd to replace the sticking plaster. I didn't sleep much that night, worrying about it so the next morning I called Aberdeen Sick Children's and was told to bring him in that afternoon so they could take a look. They told me to be prepared for him to have a general anaesthetic if need be. So off we went (Jack, Granny Mac and me) back to that dreaded place!

Jack having a nap on his bean bag, oblivious to all my stress! 

I decided that we weren't staying so I didn't bring any supplies with me so if they'd wanted to admit him they would have had to do it without all his meds etc. Tee hee hee....no flies on me ya know!

Luckily, after lots of scratching of the head and looking at x-rays they got a surgeon to have a look and he fixed it in 5 mins. I was sooooo impressed. So much so that I told him "that I was so relieved that I could kiss him!". I didn't but hey that's how happy I was!!!

Now I know how to fix it, I have relaxed a bit. Just as well cos I cannot keep up this level of stress any more! I just need a little quiet, is that too much to ask?